John F. Kennedy once said, “ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.” And this Malaysian did just that!

When FeedMe Malaysia sighted a post where netizen Goh Teck Chuan was seen spraying pothole warning sign on a road of Kuala Lumpur and even placed a traffic cone on top of it, we were moved by his voluntary effort to help save lives and avoid car damage.

In the post, Goh said he could help members of the public to report potholes as long as the road isn’t a private entity.

“As long as the roads are under Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL), you can contact me and I will help to lodge a report,” wrote Goh in the brief Facebook post.

If encounter a pothole, he told motorists to stop their car behind the pothole to ensure their own safety first. After that, if possible, spray “Awas” (hazard) on the road, indicate the date and write on “bhk” which stands for Brotherhood Kepong. Then, snap a picture of the pothole, tag the location with a Google map link and send the information to his WhatsApp at +6017-363 9995.

Goh said he would lodge a report on your behalf to the DBKL and the authorities would have it fixed within 12-24 hours. Now, that’s effective!

A quick scroll on Goh’s profile found that he had been actively volunteering in resolving pothole and other road hazard issues. In another post, he did the same again on an exit of Plus highway towards Damansara Damai. After spraying a warning sign on the road, other motorists could be seen avoiding the pothole with ease. Truly a hero! He related that he was a victim of the pothole, too, which got one of his rims damaged.

FeedMe Malaysia reached out to Goh to ask him more about his voluntary effort. In the interview, he told us he was part of a Brotherhood community where Malaysians of different walks in life come together to contribute and resolve hazardous road issues.

When asked why would he take out his time to do a seemingly thankless job, he said he didn’t want motorists to risk their lives or waste money on vehicle repairs due to the poor road condition.

He realized that most citizens don’t feel obligated to lodge an official report on road hazard as some city councils might take a long time to respond to complaints. However, he said it’s still important to make a report.

Goh said the Brotherhood community extends beyond Kuala Lumpur and a quick search on Facebook found that there’s a page for Rawang, posts from Kepong, as well as Lando Zawawi Vrus’ page with over 400,000 followings. The big family shares pictures of dangerous road conditions, update on road repairs − or most essentially, their presence is to keep the city councils in-check.

Goh told us that the Brotherhood has a standard operating procedure and that is to first, report the situation; second, wait for the authority’s response; third, if there isn’t a response, the community would fork out their own money to fix the road condition with temporary solutions.

In one of the posts where it showed an unlit road with a divider in the middle, the group put up a road sign to warn motorists of the cross-section. The group drilled two holes into the ground, put up the poles and hung the sign. It isn’t an ordinary sign though − it’s marked with the word “Brotherhood sponsor” and the arrows were tweaked to resemble some phallic symbols, maybe as a mockery to the city council’s inefficiency.